The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

In addition to building the Bronx jail, the plan calls for reopening the shuttered Brooklyn House of Detention after a $240 million expansion.

The Brooklyn facility would likely include residential and retail components, according to testimony before the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee.

John Antonelli, the senior deputy Correction commissioner, fielded a skeptical question on the proposed Bronx jail from Bronx Councilman James Vacca(D).

Antonelli said he didn't know details of the negotiations because they are being handled by the city's Economic Development Corp.

The EDC has been shepherding several major development projects in the Bronx, including the new Yankee Stadium and the more controversial redevelopment of the Bronx Terminal Market into a shopping center. An EDC spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

Details of the plans for the new Bronx jail emerged just months after the city turned over the site of the shuttered Bronx House of Detention to the Related Cos.

That company is headed by Stephen Ross, a friend and former business partner of Deputy Mayor David Doctoroff, who oversees economic development.

Related is developing the Gateway Center on the city-owned site of the Bronx Terminal Market, which, like the shuttered Bronx House of Detention, is near Yankee Stadium.

In exchange for the Bronx House of Detention property, Related gave the city a vacant waterfront portion of its tract that will be turned into a park.

EDC officials had testified the property swap benefited the city more than Related. But critics had called it part of a "sweetheart deal" with Related.

City officials had vehemently denied any favoritism.

"They left out at the time they gave away the Bronx House of Detention that they were also planning to build a $370 million prison in the South Bronx," said Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist who opposed the Related project.

The proposed location of the Bronx jail came as a surprise to Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo (D-Bronx), who represents the South Bronx.

"I was taken aback," Arroyo said. "We should have been given some of this" information.

Originally published on April 26, 2006

City Plans 2,000-Bed Jail on Landfill Site in the South Bronx

*
E-Mail
* Print
* Reprints
* Save

Article Tools Sponsored By
By WINNIE HU
Published: April 26, 2006

New York City plans to build a 2,000-bed jail on an abandoned garbage dump on the East River in the South Bronx, a site that was rejected by city officials in 1991 amid allegations that its previous owner had ties to organized crime.

The city's Economic Development Corporation is negotiating with the current owner, Oak Point Energy, to acquire the 28-acre tract near the Oak Point railyard. The project would cost $375 million, and ground could be broken as early as 2008, said John Antonelli, senior deputy commissioner for the Department of Correction.

The jail would be the first freestanding one built in the city since 1991, correction officials said. A floating jail barge, which holds 800 beds, was anchored at nearby Hunts Point in 1992. The new jail will be used to house men and women arrested in the Bronx and awaiting trial.

City correction officials are moving to replace some of the aging buildings at the Rikers Island complex that have been ordered closed by a federal court because of poor conditions. The city also plans to spend $240 million to expand a jail in Brooklyn and add retail businesses at that site.

At a hearing yesterday, Mr. Antonelli said the money for the Bronx and the Brooklyn projects would come from the department's capital budget. "Our analysis of the capital and operating costs," he said, "shows that building in the boroughs will be more efficient than building and operating new capacity on Rikers Island."

The land in the Bronx is one of the largest privately owned pieces of undeveloped commercial real estate in the city. In 1988 it was bought by Britestarr Homes Inc., which proposed creating a modular-housing factory that could revitalize the area. Instead, the site was used as a garbage dump and, in 1991, Britestarr was investigated for possible ties to John A. Gotti, son of the reputed Gambino crime family boss.

By May 2002 the company had filed for bankruptcy, leaving the property with more than $60 million in claims against it, including $17 million owed to the state for environmental cleanup costs and fines, and $10 million more in back taxes claimed by the city. Oak Point Energy bought the land later that year.

Several Bronx community groups and environmentalists said yesterday that they opposed the city's plan for a new jail, saying they preferred the land be used for a recycling plant or retail and business development. Oak Point Energy had also proposed building a power plant at the site, but did not follow through.

Elena Conte, a staff member for Sustainable South Bronx, said the community was keenly interested in the development of the site and urged the city to include them in the process. "Deals are being made," she said, "but there's very little transparency and no real opportunity for public participation, and that's a major concern."

Norris McDonald, president of the African American Environmentalist Association, a national group that has an office in the Bronx, said that jails and power plants were not the solution. "I mean, who wants a prison in their neighborhood?" he said. "It isn't smart growth, or sustainable development, and frankly, there are dangerous individuals housed there."

But Mr. Antonelli said a new jail would generate economic revenue for the borough. He said the Oak Point site was reconsidered after the current owner approached the city about selling it. The economic development agency would not provide details about the negotiations.

Mr. Antonelli said that the Correction Department had agreed earlier to give up another jail site for redevelopment as part of the Bronx Terminal Market, and in exchange the department was promised a replacement site.

At the hearing, Councilman James Vacca, who represents the northeast Bronx, urged Mr. Antonelli to listen to the concerns of Bronx residents. "I would anticipate opposition to this," Mr. Vacca said. "But I think that your agency is going to have to come forth with a more detailed plan than what we have today."